Hitting Bottom

An old-fashioned myth or common belief is the drug addicts cannot help themselves or be helped until they had hit rock bottom.

I would argue that “hitting rock bottom” is death; and then it’s a bit late.

The fact of the matter is there are only three possible outcomes for person who is active in drug addiction.

1. They will never get clean and sober and die from the disease.

2. They will reach a decision point, stay sober by taking correct action, and changing their lifestyle, also learning new social and life skills for adults.

3. They will ‘try’ to get clean, Bouncing back and forth between brief periods of abstinence and relapse. These people that say they ‘hit their bottom’, generally haven’t been there yet.

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Hitting Bottom Actually Creates A Decision Point - Pain Is A Wonderful Motivator

In my experience, people who have gotten clean, and are staying sober refer to their bottom as the decision point that will ultimately change their life and turn it around. Virtually everyone I know who is sober can describe with exquisite clarity the date, time, circumstances, of when they finally said “enough is enough” and meant it. That is the time to pounce like a panther and get them into drug or alcohol rehabilitation.

That decision can come about in a number of ways. Most frequently, it comes from a point of desperation, anger or resignation. It is not necessarily some dramatic event or catastrophic loss.

Pain is a wonderful motivator. Often the decision to make a change comes about because the pain of continuing to live life as an addict is just too great.

I remember being trapped in that lonely and dark place in my life when my first thought upon waking up in the morning was “Oh no, I woke up. I have to do the same nasty things all over again to get high and stay high” Life was not about living anymore but rather, just waiting to die. The idea of having or increasing self confidence and happiness was ludicrous.

The point at which a person turns from active in addiction and makes the decision to get clean and stay sober is a very personal one. It is almost entirely internally motivated There is no magic button that friends and family can push to speed the recovery process.

When a person has hit bottom in their drug use they are extremely teachable and open to change.